Rockets are cool, but theyre also being fired into space by Elon Musk,who is cringe.
You know what is cool, though?
A giant cannon that shoots stuff into space.
One of Longshot Space’s early proof of concept canons.© Image via YouTube.
It might be cheaper, easier, and more efficient, too.
OpenAIs Sam Altmanis an investor.
On the surface, Longshot Spaces pitch is as simple as it sounds.
If you have an opportunity to do something that is grand and beautiful, you should.
Thats part of what gets me out of bed in the morning.
The world has sent an incredible number of satellites into space over the last few years.
Low Earth orbit is riddled with stuff.
Getting that stuff into space requires rockets, and rockets are expensive.
Musk and Jeff Bezos have spent billions of dollars getting into space.
Musks big space innovation was designing rockets to be reused.
Everything else after that is really easy.
So how will they do it, and how far have they come?
As the object goes down the gun, holes in its barrel inject more gas and increase the speed.
Getting satellites into space will require a gun thats miles long.
Earlier tests on small versions of the concept have been successful.
According to a report fromSFGate, Longshot has launched apple-sized objects at speeds up to Mach 4.6.
To build bigger guns, Longshot needs a bigger space.
Its currently in the deserts of Nevada, laying the groundwork for the next stage of its project.
The new gun will have a 30-inch diameter and run 1,800 feet.
The hope is that a gun this long can get an object weighing 220 pounds up to Mach 5.
Longshot Space is just one of the companies thats hoping to bypass the issue of high-cost rockets.
The other popular idea is tobuild a space elevator.
But for Grace and Longshot, giant sonic-boom-inducing guns are the only way to go.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
